Blog Posts for William Poy Lee

Dead or Alive - Showing Up for Friends

William Poy Lee — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:14:58 -0700

A few weeks ago, I had RSVP'ed to attend the 25th anniversary party of Mustard's Grill, that culinary lodestar that placed Napa on the map not only as a wind destination but a gourmet valley. Greatest food, finest wine, music and from the invitation, what promised to be a never ending stream of Napa society, foodies from everywhere, celebs, and Cindy Pawson's own down-home set (I'm in this ...

IN MEMORIAM -- GEORGE CARLIN, AND YET HE'LL LIVE FOREVER

William Poy Lee — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:19:40 -0700

For those of us who love Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Mort Sahl, Chris Rock, and all other comedian warriors who loved all words and tolerated no hypocrisy, please honor the passing of George Carlin who has gone off to that great, open, free stage in the sky.Take a few minutes and watch his famous and now classical performance of "The 7 Words..." on ...

Kindle-ized, Globalized, Public Intellectualized, and Excised

William Poy Lee — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:38:18 -0700

I'm being Kindle-ized by Amazon.com., so my agent recently informed me. The good news is that my first book, The Eighth Promise, will be downloadable in about six weeks from their site into the Kindle book pod. The bad news is that the royalty per digital sale is much less than for a real book sale. I suppose the selection of The Eighth Promise confirms what I've suspected -- that after a ...

To Bee or not to Bee...

William Poy Lee — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:47:54 -0700

What a hoot -- journalist Linnea Due pits me, an empircal habitat gardner, in a smack-down against the contra but politic recommendations of a UC Berkeley entomologist, Professor Gordon Frankie, who is the lead researcher of the Urban Bee Project, a research garden facility literally a mile up the street from my humble habitat garden.In truth, we're not that far apart, as you'll find out when ...

Deep East and Amiri Baraka's Operatic version of The Myth of Sisyphus

William Poy Lee — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:38:16 -0700

Last weekend, I saw the world premiere of Amiri Baraka’s Jazz Opera, The Sisyphus Syndrome. I read his groundbreaking The Blues People in 1969, when he was still known as LeRoi Jones. It was my first year at UC Berkeley and I had enrolled in a Black Studies Course on music, taught by the jazz musician and composer Ortiz Walton. I had never read sentences infused with so much rhythm – jazz ...

BORDERLINE

William Poy Lee — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:22:36 -0700

A pleasing afternoon at the Annie Leibovitz Retroseptive yesterday, Tuesday: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005, at S.F.'s Palace of the Legion of Honor. 'Twas a beautiful day - warm yet breezy and with a clear, blue sky view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the squeaky clean towers of downtown, and in-between the hills and towers, snatches of the Bay. As I walked towards the museum, the azure blue of ...

Dove Bodies in Motion and Asian Americans too

William Poy Lee — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:22:21 -0700

One nicety of living so close to the UC Berkeley campus is the ease of dropping in on lectures, international performances, rarely screened movies at Pacific Film Archives, openings at the Berkeley Art Museum, and the occasional, delightful student presentation.Last Friday, I attended the Berkeley Dance Project 2008 student performance of Torelli by Twyla Tharp, MELT by Kim Epifano and two ...

Aftermath

William Poy Lee — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:52:34 -0700

Today, the winds are inexplicably blowing down from the Eastern Hills. The leaves are all streaming the wrong way, slightly creaking as if in protest. But spring is bursting out all over.Ahhh me, so many complex emotions and conflicting thoughts following this week's Olympic torch run in San Francisco. It's not over yet, emotionally, intellectually, and politically for me. As a Chinese ...

Middle Age Torch Runners, Free Speech Initiation. and a Switcheroo

William Poy Lee — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:11:47 -0700

So no sooner than I return to SF than I discover a friend of mine, Helen Zia, writer and lifelong civil and human rights activist, decided to run the O torch for 2 blocks through San Francisco. She is concerned for her safety given what's been going on in London and Paris (where the second day was cancelled). Moreover, Helen has been receiving disturbing e-mails about her decision and was ...

Cash Prizes, Scent of the Missing, Toisan Sounds, and Papadeaux's

William Poy Lee — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:55:04 -0700

The Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas is a swell place, i.e., swell as in swanky because it is an old Grand Dame hotel, but so well maintained, it doesn't feel in the slightest dowdy, and seems, well -- up-to-date in a classy retro way. Yes, there's the old cushioned lobby sofas and armchairs with tea service and classical piano music at 4 PM in the lobby and maybe it could use a good blue back ...